Dr. Simmons has joined the department as an Associate Professor and was previously at Michigan State University. Dr. Simmons is a human geographer whose research program addresses the interaction of economic development and environmental policy in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). She is especially interested in the social consequences of these interactions, and much of her current work examines agrarian reform and land conflict in the Brazilian Amazon. Although this part of the world attracts much of her attention, given the importance of the Amazon basin to biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity, she has also conducted comparative research on forest management practices of indigenous and non-indigenous farmers in the Republic of Panama, and has engaged in cross-national studies examining economic development, urbanization, and sustainability in China, India! , and the United States. The conceptual lens for her research is derived primarily from a political economy approach. In particular, she focuses attention on the manner in which social processes interact across a multiplicity of scales, and the impact these interactions have on local environments and social conditions. The theoretical underpinning of her work emphasizes the local, and considers the importance of Place as essential to understanding social and environmental problems. In an effort to examine the place-specific nature of these problems, the research strategy she employ combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, utilizing data and insight gained from field investigation involving household surveys and key informant interviews.